Aircraft are generally designed to carry their maximum load in the fuselage and/or wings of the aircraft. A prior art aircraft 10, is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The fuselage 12 of the aircraft 10 is where any loads are stored in flight. In modern military aircraft, it is common for the aircraft to have ample thrust to carry larger loads than can fit within its fuselage. One way to take advantage of this extra thrust is to place these oversized loads externally. These external loads are attached to mounts on the wings or fuselage. An example of an aircraft 20 with a plurality of oversized loads 22, is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. While this allows the aircraft to carry oversized loads, the oversized loads now have to be designed to withstand a severe acoustic environment and carrying the loads externally increases the aerodynamic drag on the aircraft.
Another solution to increasing the payload capacity has been to redesign the aircraft with a larger fuselage so that it can carry larger loads internally. Carrying the loads internally protects the loads from environmental exposure, but increases the size and weight of the aircraft as well as the cost of the aircraft. This is illustrated by FIGS. 5 and 6. FIG. 5 shows an aircraft 30 externally carrying an oversized load 32. FIG. 6 shows a redesigned aircraft 40 capable of carrying the oversized load 32 internally. The redesigned larger aircraft 40 is longer 42 than the aircraft 30 with the external load. In many aircraft, this extra load capacity is only needed for a small percentage of its missions however the size, weight and cost penalties are incurred for all missions.
Thus, there exists a need for an aircraft that can carry oversized loads internally, without incurring the weight, cost and size penalties imposed by designing a larger aircraft.